ae 
Arts, Theatres, Gardens, Inftitutions, Ar- 
chite€ture, and efpecially the Manners of 
the People. By Thomas Holcroft. 2 elegant 
wols 4to. Decorated with a great Number of . 
Vignettes, with a fepsrate Atias of large and 
{plendid Engravings, reprefenting the princi- 
‘pal Objects and Buildings in Paris. $1. 8s. 
boards ; or, with the Plates reduced in Size, 
and folded in the Volumes, 51. 5s. boards. 
Phillips. 
VETERINARY. 
A new Edition, revifed and corrected, in 
Svo. of An Inquiry into the Structure, &c. 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
“George Keate, Efq. 
[Feb. Ty 
of the Horfe; illuftrated with Plates By 
Richard Lawrence, Vet. Surgeon. 11. Is, 
boards. * 
VOYAGES. 
An Account of the Pelew Iflands. By 
A new Edition, with 
§ additional Plates. To which is added, a 
Supplement, compiled from the Journals of 
the Panther and Endeavour, two Veflels fent 
to thofe Iflands, in 1790. By J. P. GHockin, 
M.A. 11. 11s. €d. boards. The Supple- 
ment, and additional Prints, feparately, 15s. 
boards, 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ASIATIC RESEARCHES of the SOCIETY 
INSTITUTED ig BENGAL. 
rY. WREDE, efq. has laid before this 
fociety an account of the St. Thomé 
Chriftians on the coaft of Malabar, the- 
particulars of which are as follow. The 
firt Portuguefe _ aiventurers were pot 
more furprifed than gratified to fied 
Chriftians on the Malabar coat: their 
exultation was however but temporary, 
‘for upon invettigation they found that 
thefe Chriftians followed the doctrines of 
Neftorius,' and acknowledged, inftead of 
the Pope, the Patriarch of that fect, 
refiding in Syria, for their ecciefaftical 
chief, 
In the begianing of the 15th century 
thefe Chriftians poff-ffed 110. churches in 
the countries now fubject to the J ravan- 
core. and Cochin Rajahs; and even at 
the piefent time, after manifold perfecu- 
tions, oppreffions, and fucceflive revolu- 
‘tions, that have almoit- depopulated the 
whole coaft, they are computed to amount 
to no Jefs than 150,000 fouls. - They are 
indi‘criminately called St. Thomé Chrif- 
tians, Neftorians, Syrians, and fometimes 
the Malabar Chriftians of the mountains, 
but the moft commen rame given to them 
by the Hindcos of the country, is that 
et Nazaranee Mapila, and more trequently 
- Surians, or Surianee Mapila. 
The Portugueie beftowed upon them 
the name of St. Thomé Chriftians, pro- 
bably from their firft founder and bifhop 
whofe name was Mar Thomé, from 
whom every ecclefiafiical chief or bifhop 
afflumes the name of Mar Thomé, al- 
though his real name be Jofeph, Abra- 
ham, &c. Hence the Portucuefe miffion- 
arics maintain that St. Thomas the 
Apoftle preached the gofpel in India, 
and was martyred at Malliapoor now St. 
Thomé: and as velliges of Chriftiani- 
ty were, at this period, difcovered iq 
China, they maintain that the fame 
apolile preached in that remote region, 
and fome of them make him to have 
pafled from thence to the Brazils. The 
Malabar Chrittians they fay, had a long 
time continued without ecclehaitieal chiefs, 
er communication with the reft of the 
Chriftian world, till they found means to 
procure biihops from Meful in Syria, 
who untortunately had been the abettors 
of Neftcrius, and through their means 
this herefy was introduced among the 
chriftians of Malabar. 
All. traditions and Malabar records 
agree, that the Syrian Chriftians wee. 
known, and had been fettled on the 
Malabar coaft, long before either the 
Arabs or the Jews. The arrival of Mar 
Thomé may be placed about the middie 
of the sth century.’ The firft mention 
ef a Syrian colony of Chriftians is made 
in the reign of C€ocoorangon Perumal, 
who probably lived in the 6th century. 
A wealthy Syrian merchant of the name 
of Thomé Casnanco, ts faid to have 
landed and fettled at’ Cranganore. He 
married two wives, one of the Nair, and 
one of fome low cal, by whom he hed a 
very numerous progeny, who, after his 
death, had greet difputes about his 
inheritance. Thrfe led to a feparation, 
the fons by the Nair woman feitling in 
the fouthern parts, and the others in the 
northern parts of Malabar. 
The St. Thome Chrittians pofleffed 
upwards of one hundred villages fituated 
moftly in the mountainous part ef the 
fouthern divificn of Malabar. Their 
habitations were diftinguithed from thofe 
of the Hindoos, by being chiefly folid 
buildings, and collected in villages not 
{catterea and difperfed as tho'e of the 
Bramins and Nairs. They obeyed their, 
archbifhop, 
